After five years and many twists and turns, Microsoft on
Wednesday said that development of Windows Vista is complete.

Windows chief Jim Allchin said Microsoft signed off on the code less than an hour ago. "It's rock solid and we're ready to ship. This is a good day," Allchin said in a conference call.

Allchin said Vista will go on sale to consumers January 30. He said that Microsoft is releasing Vista in five languages. The French, Spanish and Japanese versions were actually signed off on before the English version, Allchin said.

The software maker has scheduled a November 30 press conference to announce the new operating system, along with Office 2007. The releases, which mark major updates to Microsoft's two key money-makers, are scheduled to be made available to consumers early next year. Vista is slated to arrive on new PCs and on store shelves in January.

Microsoft's move caps an intense period for the Windows development team, which has raced to stamp out a number of bugs in test releases before declaring Vista code "golden" or final.

The release of Vista will mark the first full fledged update to the desktop operating system since Windows XP in 2001. Among the changes coming with Vista are a new graphics engine and user interface, improved desktop searching and a new media player and Web browser. Also included are "under the hood" improvements in areas like security and manageability, as well as power management.

If Microsoft can fix some bugs by its self-imposed general availability date, Vista could be a worthy upgrade for most PC users.

Vista's debut has been a long time in the making. Microsoft announced detailed plans for a new Windows release, code-named Longhorn, at an October 2003 developer conference.

Eventually though, that ambitious plan was deemed unworkable, with the Windows team sent back to the drawing board to find more manageable ways to achieve some of the same goals, such as improved searching. Microsoft announced the change in plans in April 2004, saying it shift would allow it to have Vista on store shelves by this year's holiday season.

In March, though, Microsoft said that it would not have Vista ready for new PCs by the holidays. Instead, it would make it available to businesses in November and delay the broad launch until January.

With the code now final, computer makers can start their final testing and start building PCs with the new OS, though they are not expected to hit store shelves until Microsoft's formal launch in January.

Microsoft also needs hardware and software makers to finish writing drivers so that things like mice, keyboards, cameras and printers all work smoothly with the new OS.

Allchin said that Nvidia will later on Wednesday launch the first DirectX 10 graphics card. "I've played with it and it just is mindblowing when you couple it with Windows Vista," he said.

While Wednesday's announcement is the culmination of a long process, it likely will be many months if not years before most businesses are running Vista.

Microsoft has ambitious goals for Vista's deployment in businesses. Still, the company predicts that only 20 percent of PCs in large enterprises will be running Vista a year after launch. Only about 10 percent of businesses ran Windows XP, Vista's predecessor, a year after its release, according to research firm IDC.

Allchin said that, with Vista code done, businesses will "now start hard-core deployment testing" and make sure their applications work with the operating system.

"I've talked to some customers that are going to move quickly," he said. Others, he said, will upgrade as they buy new machines.

As for consumers, he said the move to Vista will be "fast and immediate."

"Businesses need to do their testing. They need to be very comfortable," he said. Allchin added that Vista has more tools now for testing application compatibility and other aspects of the operating system, easing transition planning for businesses. He said Microsoft has also tried to make it simpler for businesses once they are ready to install the software. "We've made deployment so much easier."

... as it is well known in cooking, baking... whatever - the proof of the "pudding" is in the eating; and, according to this article &gt;&gt;&gt;&gt; "Allchin said that, with Vista code done, businesses will "now start hard-core deployment testing" and make sure their applications work with the operating system.

"I've talked to some customers that are going to move quickly," he said. Others, he said, will upgrade as they buy new machines..."&lt;&lt;&lt; so the thing is - how many serious professionals users of computer systems worldwide have had a go with "VISTA" todate that we can take "Allchin's word to the bank? Not perhaps for another year or so, after some more "bugs" have been worked around one might guess!

it has better graphics which will keep your mind off viruses, spyware, security holes, and all other nice things. Oh and you get desktop search...um all you need is a google desktop search which will probably work better than MS one, not to mention it's free. blah blah blah the list goes on

Oh well, I won't be able to afford it anyway... Hmm... I shall have to steal it, from a monkey... with no feet, and just one scarf. (The scarf is conveniently wrapped around eyes, so they cannot see me.)

Hmm... Now where will I find a monkey like that... :S. How much do monkey's cost again? Ugh... I'll just buy Vista instead...

I don't see how microsoft's Vista can be considered "new" M$ Vista might aswell be "OS X emulator" just compare apple widgets, dashboard, finder and ilife, the only differance is the logo..and the HUGE amount of memory vista requires to run!...good luck to them anyway!

FYI: Vista is the first consumer version of Windows MS has released since they performed their code review (which was a major factor in the wait time for this release of the OS) so it's much more likely to be more secure than XP which makes your vision of an apocalypse more wishful thinking than reality.

Hmmm - what am I or companies to gain with Vista? First, most people and corporations will not be even able to install it due to all the extreme system demands. Second, most large corporations will not even consider the OS for at least two years as they have learned their lesson from past OS releases with all the security and bugs - not to mention bugs MS doesn't even fix. As an IT professional, I would not even consider it until I see MS has worked out most of the bugs and how it fares with legacy Apps that still run Corp America today - much much to risky for even small companies to consider, besides, what will Vista deliver to most companies using their computer for daily business computing - Nothing!!!

I think I speak for the vast majority of corporate IT professionals - It will be at least 18 to 24 months before we even bring it into our IT department for testing before we roll it out to our employees and the rest of company. Think about it - a company with 2000 computers currently in use and MS wants us to upgrade to Vista - I don't think so - not even in the forseeable future.

Report offensive content:

If you believe this comment is offensive or violates the CNET's Site Terms of Use, you can report it below (this will not automatically remove the comment). Once reported, our staff will be notified and the comment will be reviewed.

E-mail this comment to a friend.

E-mail this to:

Note: Your e-mail address is used only to let the recipient know who sent the e-mail and in case of transmission error. Neither your address nor the recipients's address will be used for any other purpose.